Springs Mountain Sangha, April 2024

April Offerings

Monday, April 1; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel
Meditation and Dharma talk with Sarah Bender, Roshi

Thursday, April 4; 6:15 PM Steering Committee Meeting
Steering Committee meets monthly on zoom.
Everyone is welcome to attend the meetings.

Monday, April 8; No Monday Meditation
We will be in the final stages of preparation for the retreat which starts on April 9th, so there will be no Monday meditation on April 8th.

Tuesday, April 9 through Saturday April 13th;
Meditation Retreat at Creek Bend Zendo

Monday, April 15; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel:
Meditation and Dharma Talk with Sarah Bender, Roshi

Monday, April 22; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel:
Meditation and Community Night, including vows and discussion

Friday, April 26, 7:30 PM on Zoom
Movie night, stay tuned! Got a great movie suggestion?

Monday, April 29; 6 PM, on Zoom & in person at Shove Chapel:
Wayfaring Mind Talk by Jan Meserve

Candlelight Meditation
Every Sunday from 8 to 8:30 PM, you are invited to join candlelight meditation online. Simple and lovely

Looking Ahead

April 9-13
A Springs Mountain Sangha Retreat
at Creek Bend Zendo
with Sarah Bender, Roshi

Registration is closed for our April Retreat, and we have shifted locations from the Abbey to Creek Bend Zendo.

Summer Book Study
with Geri Johnson
This summer, we will be offering a summer book study with Geri Johnson. We will center discussions around Susan Murphy’s book, A Fire Runs Through All Things. Keep an eye out for details of the specific dates and times, but you might want to purchase a copy of the book and start reading.

Upcoming Retreats

May 19
One Day retreat
at Creek Bend Zendo
with Sarah Bender, Roshi

June 21-23
Integrative retreat
with Sarah Bender, Roshi

September 30-October 5
An Open Source Retreat
at Bodhi Manda Zen Center
in Jemez Springs, NM
with Megan Rundel, Sarah Bender, and Tenney Nathanson

Ongoing Meditation Schedule, All available via Zoom; Monday Eves available in person as well

Weekly Meditations (all times MDT) on Zoom:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are 6:30 to 7:30 AM. We sit for two periods and people come and go as they need to, and leave camera off. (Often a poem or koan will drop in at some point.)
Saturday we sit from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, then someone speaks for a bit about their practice to kick off a deep and lively discussion (til roughly 8:30) These Zen Threads talks are now alternating every other week with “mini-threads” group discussions of practice with multiple paths emerging and joining seamlessly. You can join the meditation at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 or 8:00.
Sunday 8:00-8:30 PM Candlelight Meditation

Many Arms of Guanyin

Volunteer with SMS

Are you interested in volunteering to help with a specific project within the sangha? Do you have a particular skill or enthusiasm for something that might be helpful? Would you like to help out, but not sure how? SMS truly values and depends on the many efforts given freely by the sangha to the sangha. This is dana and is so much appreciated. If you have questions or want to help, please contact Kelly McFarland S.Kelly.HLS@gmail.com

Support for Springs Mountain Sangha

You can donate to Springs Mountain Sangha in person at Shove Chapel using the dana bowl at the entrance to the dharma hall. You can also donate through our PayPal account. You can get to the SMS PayPal link on the SMS web site at:

http://www.smszen.org/supportsms/

Or you can mail a check to:
Springs Mountain Sangha
P.O. Box 2613
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

*We depend on the generosity of our members to support the work of our sangha*

If you want to make a donation to Sarah Bender specifically, for example, dana for classes, group meetings or work on the phone (suggested donations for these are $10 per class, or $20 for a 20 min. individual meeting) you can do this by sending a check directly to her.

Sarah Bender
7528 Jenkin Place
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

or by Paypal to sembender@gmail.com

Support for Cloud Dragon

The easiest way is to make a donation at the website, here:

https://joansutherlanddharmaworks.org/cgi-bin/dharma/page.cgi?g=Support%2FDonate%2Findex.html;d=1